Method for ascertaining the axis of rotation of a vehicle wheel

1. A method for ascertaining an axis of rotation of a vehicle wheel, comprising:

projecting a light pattern at least onto the wheel during rotation of the wheel;

detecting a light pattern reflected from the wheel by a calibrated imaging sensor system; and

analyzing the light pattern in an analyzer device, the analyzing including determining a 3D point cloud with respect to the wheel, fitting a parametric surface model of the wheel to the point cloud, calculating normal vectors of the wheel for different rotation positions of the wheel to obtain wheel axes, an axis of rotation vector being calculated as the axis of rotation from a spatial movement of the normal vector of the wheel.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the reflected light pattern is recorded using a mono, stereo, or multi-camera system.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the reflected light pattern is stereo recorded, measured points obtained using two camera images of the stereo recording being associated in terms of correspondence and 3D coordinates of the measured points are calculated from the stereo correspondence and calibration data.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a deformable model is used for fitting as a surface model for shape compensation.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the light pattern is projected and recorded by the imaging sensor system while the vehicle is passing by.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein movement of the vehicle is determined three-dimensionally by detecting the movement of a body of the vehicle body as it is passing by.

7. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein translational displacements of the normal vectors of the wheel occurring as the vehicle is passing by are determined from a direction of movement and velocity of the fitted 3D point clouds for each recorded image; spiral paths of the normal vectors of the wheel are pushed together into themselves to form a revolving curve while translational displacements are mathematically eliminated; and a normal vector to a plane surface circumscribed by the revolving curve through its center is ascertained as the axis of rotation vector.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein a rotational frequency and the angle of rotation are determined from a velocity vector and a radius of a corresponding segmented wheel object for increasing an accuracy of a position determination of the corresponding normal vectors of the wheel.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wheel axes are calculated for multiple wheel positions and spatial positions of wheel centers are determined, the wheel centers and the corresponding wheel axes are shifted into a common center, and the axis of rotation is identified as the axis of a truncated cone obtained.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a trail angle and a camber angle are calculated from the axis of rotation vector ascertained during a movement of the wheel and from a measured value of a normal vector of the wheel obtained on the wheel at rest.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a cylinder or idealized wheel is used as a basis for the surface model for fitting into the point cloud.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a rotational angle is determined from a surface texture in unstructured illumination.